And then there were three.
After the surprise move by Robert Carr Jr. to drop out of the running for the chancellor position at UAPB, that’s how many candidates are left out of 59 initial applications for the job.
Carr was to make his presentation to the public on Friday, but earlier that day, a letter from the UA System was released saying Dr. Carr, who had served as provost at UAPB for five years, had decided to remove his name from consideration. Carr was hired by Dr. Laurence B. Alexander in 2017 and then moved on in 2022 to Fisk University in Tennessee where he serves as provost and vice president for academic affairs. Alexander resigned last year to become chancellor at the University of Michigan-Flint.
That leaves Robert C. Mock Jr., executive vice president for strategic initiatives at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore; Anthony Graham, tenured professor of education and former provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina; and Carla Martin, vice chancellor for finance and administration at UAPB as the remaining finalists.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
In their public presentations, it was clear that the search committee had picked some top talent. Each of the three remaining candidates presented themselves in such a way as to communicate they had a vision and passion for what they do and would do if placed in the chancellor’s office at UAPB.
That said, it’s hard not to like Martin for the position, and such an attitude is made easier because she’s a local woman, having graduated from Watson Chapel and from UAPB. She’s a known quantity, if you will.
At UAPB she has guided the university as vice chancellor for finance and administration. Before that, Martin was a corporate-level attorney for Walmart, practiced law at a local law firm and she still has a license to practice law.
It would be easy to dismiss an endorsement of a local person by a local newspaper as evidence of homerism. But what we see in Martin is not just her Pine Bluff chops but someone, because of their position and experience and careful stewardship of finances at UAPB, who is perfectly positioned to move the university forward.
Alexander had a habit of hiring good people. The fact that Martin and Carr made it onto the short list for the chancellor position is a testament to that. We think she is deserving of a promotion. She knows UAPB, knows its strengths and weaknesses and knows what the university needs to do to progress. Martin has thrived wherever she’s landed. We believe she would continue to thrive as chancellor and so would UAPB.